Dumbles gets caught
by Aealket
Summary: Don't you hate the fact that Dumbledore seems to get away with just about anything? Not this time. This is AU.


**Dumbles gets caught**

By Aealket

Summary: Don't you hate the fact that Dumbledore seems to get away with just about anything? Not this time. This is AU.

A/N: This is the result of my getting very mad at Dumbledore in one of the stories I am following. A modified version of this scene may be used in a story I am half planning for the future. I wrote this in one afternoon at one sitting, and passed it to a couple of people with whom I bounce my ideas. NettieT ripped it apart and put it back together making it a much better one-shot. She deserves a lot of credit. This file has not been to a final beta, so please excuse any errors, they are mine. For those of you waiting for the next chapter of Heart's Home, it is at my final beta now. I will post it after I get it back, and make the needed corrections.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, and I am doing this for fun, not profit.

Albus Dumbledore was having a very bad day. It had started out badly when he'd found out Harry Potter had yet again been removed from the Dursleys. Things were a bit more serious this time, however, as Vernon had apparently injured another child in front of witnesses, and the family of the injured child were pressing charges. It had taken Albus all morning and most of the afternoon to find those witnesses and 'fix' their memories. Eventually he only had the child that had been hurt and her family to deal with. Somehow, that family had managed to have Harry released into their custody, which would allow him to modify the memories of the family and pick up Harry at the same time. It was a shame really, as modifying the memory of a child as young as this one could cause permanent damage.

Then his day had gotten even worse. The family was magical; something Albus was not expecting as the assault had taken place in a muggle shopping mall. But as he had appeared at the house, it was quite obvious the family had magic as he had to break through five sets of wards.

Five layers could be called excessive for any house, particularly as all of Hogwarts only had six layers. Albus had surprised the lady he had found in the house, who seemed to think his arrival was a prank. Albus then erased the important information from her mind, before he was attacked by two large furry doglike creatures. He was not really sure what they were since he knew of no magical dog breeds of that size. But the animals had shown uncanny intelligence and had known what a wand could do. Five minutes later the creatures were still eluding his spells when additional people arrived to help the homeowners.

That was when his day got really bad. Over the next ten to fifteen minutes, between ten and twenty people arrived and joined the fight. The only good news appeared to be that these witches and wizards were not Death Eaters; they did not cast any unforgivable curses. They were, however, trained in magical combat as even with the elder wand, Albus found himself overrun.

So now, at the end of one of the worst days of his life, Albus with-more-titles-than-he-knew-what-to-do-with Dumbledore, found himself tied to a chair, waiting for he knew not what. So far, the interrogations had been almost civil with no threats, and no pain curses; they hadn't even tried to force any veritaserum down his throat. But neither had they allowed him any creature comforts. And his interrogators were all unknown to him, which was a statistical impossibility. Out of this many wizards and witches in England, Albus should have known and taught over half, and he knew not a one.

Albus was roused from his internal musings by the sounds of many feet as the door to the large basement room was opened, and five older men came in followed by the younger people that he had fought. Chairs were brought in and set along the wall he was facing, and as the five older men sat down, the lights in the room brightened. One man, who had not been a part of the fight entered, walked to the middle of the room and, facing the five elders, he bowed. Then, in an action that surprised Albus, the man turned, faced him, and bowed to him as well.

Taking a piece of parchment from his robes, the standing man raised his voice and began to speak.

"The Stone family counsel is gathered to hear of the happenings in this, my house, earlier this day. Since the accused is not known to us, I will start earlier in the time line than just this afternoon."

"By order of my older brother, Lord Stone, I was sent to this bleak and rainy island over three months ago when death struck our clan. Our cousin died, leaving behind a husband and young daughter. My cousin's death, which was witnessed by her daughter, was ruled accidental. We, that is my family, have searched and found no evidence at all contrary to the finding of the Aurors of this land. However, our cousin's death was felt keenly by the remaining members of her family. Our cousin's husband has found solace in traveling, and has left his daughter in my care while he deals with his grief abroad. This was done with Lord Stone's knowledge and approval."

"Yesterday our cousin's daughter, my ward, was separated from my wife and I while at a shopping mall in London. In accordance with her instructions, my ward notified the security people in the mall that she had become lost, and she was taken to an area to await either myself or my wife. Once my wife discovered my ward was no longer with her, she notified me, and I headed to the security office to see if my ward could be found there, while my wife continued searching the area where she and my ward had become separated."

"While my ward was waiting to be found, the mall security brought in two male children who were accused of shop lifting. A guard had seen the larger of the two boys stealing candy from a shelf, before forcing the smaller boy to hold on to, and hide the loot. While bringing in the boys, my ward reports the larger boy was placing all blame on the smaller boy. This matches the report of the guard."

"While security was questioning the larger boy, my ward struck up a mostly one-sided but friendly conversation with the smaller boy. This boy identified himself as 'Harry Potter'."

For the first time since Mr. Stone had started talking, a murmur arose from the others present in the room; a murmur that was quickly silenced by the middle of the five seated elders. Mr. Stone then continued with his evidence after glancing at his notes.

"At this time I contacted the mall security myself, and they informed me that, yes, a young girl matching my ward's description had reported herself as lost. The security personnel directed me to the holding area where she was waiting. Before I got there however, the guardian for Mr. Potter and the larger boy, who appears to be Mr. Potter's cousin, entered that area. On seeing Mr. Potter engaged in a friendly conversation with my ward while Mr. Potter's cousin was being questioned, the man lost his temper and bodily picked my ward up and flung her against a wall. My ward received a broken arm as a result of these actions. The other guards in the area subdued Mr. Potter's guardian, who was then arrested."

"This is when I arrived, my ward, in spite of being in considerable pain, managed to inform me who Mr. Potter was, and that he was most likely magical. Since the guards were surrounding Mr. Potter's guardian, I spoke with Mr. Potter, and was able to confirm Mr. Potter did have a magical core. With the guards so focused away from me I was able to create a diversion, and in the confusion, I was able to secure Mr. Potter myself, and brought him and my ward back to this location."

"And it is this location that played host to the events of this afternoon. At 3:50 p.m., this man, the accused, apparated on to our grounds, and then disabled the house wards and entered my house. The accused managed to surprise my wife and obliviated her, whereupon, my wife's and my familiars then attacked the accused. When the wards fell, my children, and my ward, gathered Mr. Potter and activated the emergency family portkey found on the upper floor. The portkey worked as it should, and deposited the children in a safe house, which activated the alarm wards. A family response team was sent, and when they found an active battle between our familiars and the accused, they called for more back up, and engaged the accused as well. It took three complete teams to subdue the accused."

"I will now set out the information we have about the accused. The accused's name is Albus Dumbledore. Mr. Dumbledore holds multiple positions of authority within the magical world, including Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

In defense of his actions, Mr. Dumbledore has claimed that he was attempting to return Mr. Potter to his guardian's care; this is in spite of the fact that Mr. Potter has previously, and is also currently, showing multiple signs of both physical and mental abuse. In the light of this evidence, and my wife's obliviation, I believe that the memories of my family would have all been modified to forget that Mr. Potter had ever entered this house. And, as a learned man, Mr. Dumbledore would be aware that modifying the memories of children the age of my ward and younger can cause the children damage.

Mr. Dumbledore has stated that in order to prevent other magical people from killing Mr. Potter, Mr. Potter will only be safe if he resides at the house of Mr. Potter's guardian. Mr. Dumbledore will not, however, give us the reason why Mr. Potter will only be safe here."

Mr. Stone paused and reviewed his notes, reading directly from them. "Here then are the family's charges being brought against Mr. Dumbledore:

Criminal trespass.  
Obliviating a family member.  
Attempted obliviation of children with possible harm to the child.  
Accessory to multiple counts of child abuse.

After reading out the charges, Mr. Stone continued speaking. "In mitigation of his crimes, I have to state that during combat no dangerous spells were cast by Mr. Dumbledore; when he obliviated my wife, although he did a thorough job, he did her no physical harm; and finally, in spite of being attacked by our familiars, no spells that would hurt or kill the familiars were cast."

Mr. Stone took a breath before continuing. "Also it should be noted that once he was subdued, the accused caused no trouble; he was willing to answer most questions put to him truthfully; if the accused did not wish to answer a question, instead of lying, he told us he would not answer. However, I believe that Mr. Dumbledore's crimes far outweigh these minor 'kindnesses' that were shown by Mr. Dumbledore, and that he should be judged without taking these into consideration.

In summation, all the evidence that has been gathered indicates that Mr. Dumbledore, a headmaster to an old and famous school, and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot is, at the very least, guilty of assisting in and promoting child abuse! In addition to that, Mr. Dumbledore has already admitted the first two charges listed against him.

As both a father and a man of honor, I cannot condone Mr. Dumbledore's abuse against children. Therefore, taking into consideration Mr. Dumbledore's standing in the wizarding community, his position as a headmaster, and the severity of his crimes, we, the Stone Family, request that the severest punishment is most fitting in this case. We therefore request that our honorable elders pass a sentence of death with no mercy."

Albus raised up his head as if he'd been struck. Kill him? They wanted to kill him?

The middle elder spoke. "Mr. Dumbledore, has the evidence presented here been the truth?"

"It is imperative that Harry Potter lives with a member of his mother's family. Only then will he be safe." Albus protested, as he finally revealed why Harry Potter should remain with his guardian.

"The question I asked requires a 'yes' or 'no' answer, Mr. Dumbledore. Was the evidence presented here the truth?" The elder repeated his question.

Flustered, Albus thought for a minute, and then answered, "Mostly the evidence was correct. I do, however, feel there is additional extenuating evidence."

The elder thought a moment then spoke. "What additional evidence do you wish to present that might pertain to these charges?"

"While I'm aware Harry Potter is not being well treated, I believe that is better than his death; which would surely follow if others that hate Mr. Potter find out where he lives. I have placed special wards around his aunt's house, and Mr. Potter cannot be harmed by magical means while he lives with his mother's family because of those wards. For the greater good, Mr. Potter must remain with his relatives; he needs to live to attend Hogwarts."

The murmurs grew from the surrounding people until a young witch stepped forward and, bowing to the elders, she spoke, "Sirs, I have been to the house in question. There are in fact some very powerful blood wards that are somehow tied to the protection of those in the house."

The elder thought and then queried, "Mr. Dumbledore, whose blood was used to power these wards?"

"Mr. Potter's mother died trying to protect her son. Her blood powers the wards, sir." Albus answered. "This is why Mr. Potter must live with the only remaining blood relative of his mother."

"Why did you allow the abuse then, sir?" Asked Mr. Stone. "If live there he must, why must he be punished, starved, beaten, and put down? Why not install an additional magic ward to prevent abuse? Why not require these family members to sign their lives away for better treatment? No, you accept the abuse as needed, and as a school headmaster that is not acceptable!"

"We have heard enough!" The elder spoke. "We will vote now."

The elders then held a conference right there in the room, before turning to face Albus and those convened.

The elder on the far spoke on behalf of the gathered panel. "We, the Stone family counsel have come to a unanimous decision. Albus Dumbledore, we find you guilty of all the crimes that have been brought against you. We cannot condone the abuse of a child; we believe that there is no greater good without happy children. We also find some of your answers to be incomplete. For example, why a school headmaster would accept, even approve the abuse of a minor. And why would Mr. Potter's attendance to your school be important, after you have allowed and even caused Mr. Potter's will therefore be subjected to truth drugs until we possess all the knowledge that you hold, after which time you will be taken to a nearby forest and dropped into Slytherin's Death, a nest of poisonous snakes. If, by some miracle, you survive, we will be gone from this place by the time you recover. Mr. Potter is now our responsibility, and should you somehow live, do not expect to see Harry Potter attend your school! May God have mercy on your soul."

As the elders filed out, Albus saw his death approaching with a vial of veritaserum in his hands…

A/N: In this story, Mrs. Lovegood was a member of a powerful but paranoid magical family. After her death some of that family came to help Luna while Mr. Lovegood grieved elsewhere. This was totally AU, and I know it.


End file.
